Vow
by KumiWolf3
Summary: Leo makes a vow to protect his brothers from anything.
1. Chapter 1

An eight year old Leo sat in the dojo trying to meditate but thoughts of his brothers playing without him came to mind. They had stopped asking him if he wanted to play with them and pretty much ignored him unless they needed help with something. Laughter echoed outside the dojo as his three little brothers played, Leo got up and went over to the door to listen to them.

"Let's watch a movie, guys." Raph said to the other two.

"Yeah, let's watch an action movie, Raphie." Donnie said excitedly.

"Should we ask Leo, guys?" came Mikey's voice, but there was silence.

"No way, he's probably too busy to do anythin anyway." Raph told Mikey in a voice that had hatred blended into it. "Ya know with his trainin."

Leo went back to his mat, sitting down he pulled his knees to his chest and felt tears well up in his eyes which he fought to keep hidden.

"I only do this for you." Leo whispered, knowing his brothers wouldn't hear him. "I do it all for you."

After a few minutes Leo left the dojo and headed for his room not even glancing over at his three brothers. None of them had even noticed Leo go passed until the movie was halfway through and Master Splinter came out of his room.

"My sons, it is time for your evening training." he said to them looking around. "Where is Leonardo?"

"Don't know, Sensei." Raph answered crossing his arms.

"Last time we saw Leo he was in the dojo, Sensei." Donnie said, looking at his father.

"I'm here, Master Splinter." Leo said coming out of his room.

The four turtles followed after their master into the dojo where they knelt before him waiting for instruction. Leo stared at his knees as Master Splinter talked; the young turtle felt isolated from his brothers by an invisible wall.

"Leonardo, Raphael." Master Splinter called out.

The two turtles jumped up knowing that they would be sparring against each other to show their brothers and Master what they have learned. Raph was happy to be sparring against Leo because he was angry with his big brother for not being there when he needed him. The two circled each other looking for any openings and like always Raph was the first to attack his opponent. Leo gracefully dodged to the side before quickly throwing his brother over his hip and jumping away. Raph's temper was getting to him as he stood back up and threw himself at his brother wanting to show everyone that he was better. But Leo quickly pinned him to the ground by swiping Raph's feet out from beneath him and placed a knee on his plastron.

"Good Leonardo, Raphael." Splinter said as Leo stood and offered Raph a hand up.

"I don't need your stinkin help, Leo." Raph growled slapping Leo's hand away. "I hate you."

Leo stared at his brother before bowing to Splinter and leaving the dojo, heading to his room he could feel the tears coming. Once he closed the door, he let the tears flow but had to place his head on his pillow so no one would hear him. He wanted to scream but knew that even with the pillow to muffle it his family would still hear him.

"Even though they hate me for this I will always protect them." Leo vowed to himself. "I will protect them and they will never see me cry or hear me scream."


	2. Chapter 2

_This chapter took forever to write cause I had no idea what to do so I made it kind of like a filler before I jump ahead to when the guys are older._

_Just a look at what 8 year old Leo has to go through with his brothers after he made his vow._

**Mikey**

Splinter sensed a change in Leonardo several days following Raphael's outburst that he hated his brother. The young turtle seemed to drown himself in his training and when he wasn't doing that he was trying to be with his brothers but only to help and listen to them. Though for the most part he would take hits from them that he didn't react to. For the most part Leo was left alone in his room or in the dojo while his brothers did what they wanted.

Leo sat in his room meditating when there was a knock at the door, looking up to see Mikey standing in the doorway. The youngest looked at his brother with his usual cheerful smile and dancing bright blue eyes.

"Something wrong, Mikey?" Leo asked getting to his feet.

"Um, uh, can you read me a story?" Mikey asked quietly looking at the floor.

"Sure, Mike."

Mikey smiled widely and went over to sit on his brother's bed with a book in his sea-green hands. Leo had a small smile on his face as he sat down beside his baby brother and took the book into his own forest green hands. He read the story to his brother the small smile still on his face; he had found out recently that it was hard not to smile when Mikey was happy. Though there were still times when Mikey would play nasty pranks on him or be mad at his for not playing games with him. But out of his three little brothers, Mikey seemed to be the only one to still acknowledge what Leo was doing and that he was still there.

**Donnie**

Later that night Leo came out of the dojo to find Donnie asleep on the floor surrounded by random machine parts. Shaking his head, he went over to the sleeping turtle and gently shook him but the purple banded turtle didn't wake up. Leo though he was sore from his extra training hour grabbed a blanket and sat down placing his brother's head on his lap before covering him with the blanket. Don had been a different story when it came to Leo being around; he talked to his brother but he would also snap at him when he was working on something.

_Flashback_

_Leo was meditating in the dojo when he heard someone enter the room but that someone didn't say anything. Knowing which of his brothers it was, Leo opened his eyes and looked at his purple banded brother._

"_Donnie?" he asked, he could tell that his brother wanted to ask something. "Something wrong?"_

"_Um, can you help me with the kata we learned today?" Donnie asked looking down._

_Leo placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Of course."_

_After an hour Donnie had improved with the kata and with a smile went to go work on a small project of his. Leo exited the dojo a few minutes later and went over to see what his brother was doing since he didn't understand anything about machines._

"_Hey Donnie, what are you doing?" Leo asked coming up behind his brother._

_Donnie jumped and whirled on his brother, "How many times have I told you not to do that?" _

_Leo looked at his brother calmly, "I'm sorry….."_

"_If you don't understand what I'm doing then leave me alone, Leo, I'm working."_

_Leo nodded and headed to his room, he'd leave his brother alone if that's what he wanted him to do. He kept a calm face as he entered his room to either meditate or read one of his books._

_End Flashback_

Leo looked down at his sleeping little brother with a small smile and closed his eyes falling to sleep himself. Master Splinter found them later and carried them off to their beds with a smile on his face.

**Raph**

The next day, Raph glared at his brother during training, Leo made everything look so easy and it made him so mad. He growled and pushed his brother whenever he could knowing that he would get back at his brother soon enough. Leo took in the glares and ignored the growls from his red banded brother; he wasn't going to show emotion. When training was over, Raph hung back and glared at his big brother who was being spoken to by Master Splinter which made Raph even angrier.

Once Master Splinter left, Raph was left alone with Leo, who turned to look at his little brother. Raph was still glaring at him but Leo kept his face calm as he watched his brother closely. The calmness that his brother looked at him with only made Raph's anger increase and his hands turned to fists.

"Ya think yer so perfect." Raph growled to his brother.

"I'm not perfect, Raph." Leo said trying not to show emotion.

"I hate you!"

Raph launched himself at Leo, punching his brother in the face causing him to stumble back away from him. Leo looked at his brother, his hand on his cheek but he still had his calm mask in place not wanting to show how hurt he really was.

Every day was pretty much the same for Leo with his brothers, some days were better than others though.

_Next Chapter I'm skipping ahead to when they're older and the real fun begins._


	3. Chapter 3

**Here ya go everyone. Somehow I was able to write out this little bit for Vow though I haven't thought about this story in a long, long time.**

**Sorry it's a short chapter.**

Leo sat meditating in the dojo, he did not know where his brothers were but he had a feeling that they wouldn't care. In the back of his mind, his vow was still there and he got to his feet to go look for them just to be sure that they were alright even though they were all sixteen now. Leaving the dojo, the eldest turtle found that his brothers were nowhere to be seen or heard in Mikey and Raph's case. He walked around the Lair, looking into rooms to see if maybe they were there, his stomach dropped out of his shell when he figured out that they had left.

"Should I go after them?" he asked himself, looking to Master Splinter's room.

Without a second thought, Leo headed out of the Lair silently to find his brothers before trouble found themselves

/-(Linebreak)-/

On the surface, the three younger turtles were jumping from building to building, Mikey laughing as they went. They had snuck out for a fun night away from the Lair and training that never seemed to end most days.

"Catch me if you can." Mikey called to his older brothers as he took off with a laugh.

But not before he slapped Raph upside the back of the head which gained him a growl from Raph. Then the chase was on with Raph going after Mikey with Donnie following behind the two a grin on his face. The three turtles were so caught up in their game that none of them noticed the dark figures following them.

"Get back here, ya little dimwit." Raph called as they jumped over a fairly large gap between buildings.

The only response that Raph got was a laugh and whoop from Mikey as he flipped through the air avoiding his brothers, who lunged at him. They were having a good time mock fighting as they jumped around the rooftop mostly trying to get Mikey. While the youngest turtle evaded them with laughter and antics of his own to avoid capture. From the shadows, an arrow went flying passed Mikey's head, cutting the skin of his cheek.

"Mikey!" Donnie called grabbing his bo staff.

Raph whirled around finding that Foot ninja had surrounded them in their game without them knowing. He growled as he fell in with his brothers, sais out, shells turned to one another as the Foot moved in on them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Life gets in the way of things sometimes... But here's the next bit.**

The three younger turtles found themselves completely surrounded by the Foot Ninja with no way to escape unless they fought their way through. Raph growled his grip on his sais tightened, as he looked at the Foot with amber eyes, his hotheadiness was getting to him. The second oldest turtle attacked without thinking which forced his brothers to attack as well so that they were not caught off guard. Lightning flashed above their heads as the three turtles began the battle of their lives against an army of Foot.

"Come on!" Raph yelled as he kicked at a Foot Ninja.

Donnie and Mikey stayed close to each other as they fought against the army of Foot that swarmed around them. They lost sight of Raph in the sea of Foot Ninja that continued to surround them and tried to separate them. Yet the two brothers were proving that they were not going to be separated from each other like other times. The only way they knew that Raph was still fighting was the fact that they could hear him yelling from wherever he was.

Lightning flashed above them once more as a large figure appeared on the adjacent rooftop with more Foot flanking him. The lightning reflected off armor that caused the figure's entire body; as this man watched the battle below.

"The turtles will fall." the figure said, jumping from down toward the fight.

Raph took out the Foot that got close to him allowing his hotheadiness to cloud his judgement (like usual) and not realize what was coming. As he turned to take on the next Foot soldier, he was knocked back by an armored boot. The turtle landed hard and rolled away looking up he found himself swarmed by Foot Ninja. Donnie and Mikey were fighting when suddenly a boot caught Mikey in the face and a fist caught Donnie in the chest. They like Raph found themselves swarmed by Foot, losing their weapons in the process and held they are pulled onto their knees and held down by their arms and shoulders, by several Foot. Their weapons were out of reach and they were forced to look up as a figure appeared before them.

"Shredder." Raph growled, struggling to get free.

"It seems we are missing a turtle." Shredder said not really acknowledging that Raph had spoken.

"We don't need Leo."

"We shall see."

The Shredder moved forward his arm raised to strike the turtle; Raph watched growling at the man. As the arm moved to strike, the younger turtles closed their eyes thinking that their brother was gonna be dead soon. But the blow never came, the sound of metal hitting metal echoed around them in the silence of the coming storm. As they looked up blue bandana tails caught the breeze as a sword held back the Shredder's bladed hand.

"Leo!" the three turtles yelled in surprise.

"Leonardo." Shredder said calmly.

The eldest turtle didn't respond as he pushed the Shredder back away from himself and his brothers. He moved slowly as he and Shredder began to circle each other waiting for that moment when they could attack. Raph, Donnie and Mikey watched surprised then realized that the Foot Ninja were distracted and unsure of what to do. Though surprised themselves, the three younger turtles jumped into action getting themselves free.

"None of you shall escape this." Shredder told Leo.

"Says you." Leo replied.

The turtle jumped forward seeing an opening though he was blocked b the blades on Shredder's hand. Each of them fought hard against the other, both seeming to be equally matched against the other. Neither noticed that their battle was nearing the edge of the building as they continued to battle. The other turtles fought with the remaining Foot Ninja, staying close to not get separated and defeated once more. As Raph kicked the last Foot in the side of the head, the three turned to see how Leo fared.

Leo locked swords with the Shredder who had attained the weapon from a fallen Foot Ninja. The two pushed against the other trying to break the other under the pressure of the other. Not wanting to let the Shredder get to his brothers again, Leo pushed back and tackled the man around the middle. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey turned just in time to watch as their brother disappeared over the edge.

"Leo!" the younger turtles yelled.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this last chapter didn't come out sooner but yeah here it is. The ending of this story has come at long last though it took forever... Enjoy.**

Everything was in slow motion, each of the younger turtles watched stunned as Leo fell from the building. They each saw before them images of the past where they had treated their brother like nothing more than a nuisance.

"Leo!" they all screamed.

Each turtle became unfrozen and they ran forward toward the edge of the building not knowing what they would find. Raph was the first to reach the edge and looked over not knowing what he would find, picturing his older brother on the street below. As Donnie and Mikey joined him, they all looked over the edge though they really didn't want to. Raph's amber eyes widened as he looked over; hanging there by his fingertips was Leo who looked up at them/

"Leo?" Raph asked kind of stupidly.

"You're alive." Donnie said looking down at him as Mikey uncovered his eyes.

"Hey guys, a little help here." Leo told them still hanging there as he looked back at his brothers.

The younger turtles each grabbed an arm except Mikey, who grabbed his eldest brother's shoulders. They were all mentally kicking themselves as they thought of all the times they had ignored Leo or put him down. Standing there, each of the younger turtles looked down somewhat ashamed by their actions toward their older brother. Yet Raph wasn't going to allow himself to be overcome by emotions on anyway that made him seem weak, he looked at Leo.

"Why did you do that?" Raph asked staring at his brother. "Why are you even out here?"

"Raph..." Donnie muttered quietly.

"It's alright." Leo told Donnie with a half-grin.

He looked over his three brothers and gave them all a half grin before looking around the area.

"I'll explain once we get underground." he told them. "The Shredder could come after us again."

Raph. Donnie, and Mikey all looked at one another before nodding; following Leo back into the sewers. The eldest turtle walked a ways down one of the tunnels before he turned back to face his brothers.

"So you going to explain now?" Raph asked staring at Leo.

Blue eyes stared into amber before they flickered away to the youngest, Mikey, who was shaking slightly. Leo's eyes softened as he wrapped his arms around his jokester of a little brother to comfort him.

"It's alright, Mikey." he said softly as the other two watched. "Nothing bad will ever happen to you or Donnie or Raph."

"But what about you?" Mikey asked once Leo pulled away.

"Well that's the thing I made a vow to protect you guys from anything that threatened your lives even at the cost of my own."

"What no." Donnie said outloud. "You can't do that Leo."

"It's the vow that I made though."

The eldest turtle looked at the three who looked back at him their expressions varied between them. Mikey looked sad and shocked, Donnie's look was one of thoughtful guilt of how he had treated his brother and Raph though he tried to hide it looked guilty and ashamed.

"We should get back." Leo told them after a few minutes of silence.

The blue banded turtle grinned at his brothers as he turned toward the direction of the Lair. As the four teenagers entered their home they were met by Master Splinter, who just stared at them before pointing to the dojo silent.

"We're in trouble." Mikey whispered quietly.

A they moved off, Leo could only grin though his mind was on the vow he had made all those years ago.

_"No matter what guys, I will protect you from anything that comes at us." _he thought as Splinter began to speak.

**Kind of an abrupt ending to a story that has taken so long to write.**

**I hope you l enjoyed it and please leave a review.**

**Then go check out my other stories if you wouldn't mind.**


End file.
